The Pepperdine Waves (12-7) will try to slow down the West Coast’s top scoring team when they take on the BYU Cougars (14-6) at Firestone Fieldhouse. The game gets underway at 8:00 pm ET on Saturday, Jan. 23.
The Waves won big over San Diego 76-58 on Thursday. Lamond Murray Jr. led all scorers on the team with 21 points on 8-for-15 shooting. The Cougars, meanwhile, are coming off a 91-80 win over Loyola Marymount on Thursday. They were led by Kyle Collinsworth who recorded his fourth triple-double of the season. He elevated his game, recording 10 points, 15 assists, and 13 rebounds.
Over the last five games, Murray Jr. has taken his game to another level for the Waves, averaging 20.0 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.0 steal, and 2.0 three-pointers.
Pepperdine is a slim underdog, with BYU favored by one. The Over/Under (O/U) is set at 155 points. Despite being 12-7 Straight Up (SU), the Waves have struggled to cover the spread in most of their matchups, only managing a record of 7-11 Against The Spread (ATS).
Over on the other bench, the Cougars head into the game with records of 9-6-2 ATS and 14-6 SU. They sport the 14th-ranked scoring offense in the country, averaging 84.2 points per game. The Cougars have controlled the glass with an average of 41.6 rebounds per game, 19th in the country. The Cougars rarely make costly errors handling the ball. They have the 47th-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the country at 1.32.
These conference rivals meet for what will be their first head-to-head battle of the season. Pepperdine won the last game in the matchup, but BYU still leads the head-to-head record over their most recent games, 7-3 SU. However, Pepperdine leads the matchup ATS with a record of 7-3. When it comes to field goals, rebounds, or three-pointers, neither team was able to hold the advantage in all three of these categories over their past five meetings against one another.
Predictions: SU Winner – BYU, ATS Winner – BYU, O/U – Over
Notes
Pepperdine is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games.
Pepperdine is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Pepperdine’s last 6 games when playing BYU.
Pepperdine sits at 5-3 SU against its conference, while BYU is 5-2 SU.
BYU averages 78.5 points per away game (ranked 29th). Pepperdine allows 63.1 points per home game (ranked 67th).
Ranked 54th, the BYU Cougars have an offensive rating of 112.7. The Pepperdine Waves rank 134th with a defensive rating of just 100.4.
BYU has an average field goal percentage of 46.4%. Pepperdine is an even 4-4 when opponents have a similar or higher field goal percentage.
The Pepperdine Waves rank higher based on their field goal percentage (129th) than their effective field goal percentage (207th). The BYU Cougars rank higher based on their effective field goal percentage (55th) than their field goal percentage (76th).
BYU ranks 40th in assists, recording 16.4 per game. Pepperdine performs worse at 132nd with 14.3 assists per game.
BYU, the 78th-ranked team in blocked shots, registers an average of 4.4 per game. Pepperdine does worse, ranked 211th with 3.1.
Pepperdine ranks 200th in offensive rebounds, while BYU ranks 13th in defensive rebounds.
The BYU Cougars make an average of 6.5 steals per game. When the Pepperdine Waves give up 6 or more steals, they are a winning 6-3.
